Evidence of meeting #68 for Health in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was edibles.
A video is available from Parliament.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cannabis Legalization and Regulation Branch, Department of Health
When they're applying to market the drug.... I'm not responsible for that program in particular, so I—
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cannabis Legalization and Regulation Branch, Department of Health
To help companies apply? I don't believe so, but I would imagine—I'm almost certain—information would be available on Health Canada's website about how to apply to seek market authorization, and the requirements that companies have to fulfill in submitting the application.
I mentioned some of the requirements already such as the need for preclinical and clinical studies. That's the actual research that will demonstrate the efficacy, quality, and safety of the product. They also have to provide details on how it will be produced, packaged, labelled, additional information about the therapeutic claims, and any side effects of the drug. Those are the kinds of things they need to submit.
I'm sure information is available to them, and public servants are usually pretty good at helping people when they need information to apply. I would imagine that we try to be as helpful as we can.
Liberal
Sonia Sidhu Liberal Brampton South, ON
I also heard authorization number and DIN. Right now, there's a prescription fee on DIN. Is a fee available for authorization numbers? With a DIN for medical marijuana, will there be any extra prescription fees?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cannabis Legalization and Regulation Branch, Department of Health
Right now, under the—
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cannabis Legalization and Regulation Branch, Department of Health
Will there be an additional fee? Maybe I'll answer your question by saying how it is now. If a person wishes to access cannabis for medical purposes, they go to their doctor and get a document that the doctor will fill out. We provide an example, or we'll take something as long as they give the right information. That's a medical authorization. It's not a prescription, as Ms. Black explained earlier.
A prescription can only be used for a drug authorized for sale in Canada. We have an equivalent, which is a document the doctor signs and dates and indicates the period of time. That clearly indicates how much they're authorized to use. The individual would take that to a licensed producer to register, and then be able to access cannabis.
Liberal
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cannabis Legalization and Regulation Branch, Department of Health
In the event that it's necessary, absolutely. There are rules in the regulations that would give Health Canada the power, if it needed it, to require a mandatory recall. In most of the instances, the recalls we've seen since the system began are when companies discover instances or concerns and undertake a voluntary recall. They're quite conscious of their obligations under the regulations and not putting public health and safety at risk, and so they will initiate those recalls as a precautionary measure. In any instances we've uncovered through our inspections, that's how it has happened.
Liberal
Sonia Sidhu Liberal Brampton South, ON
How can we regulate a similar price? Someone said that it's $4.54 per gram, and we also heard that it's $10 per gram. Is there any system in place?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cannabis Legalization and Regulation Branch, Department of Health
In terms of the prices of licensed producers, the first thing I would say is that we keep a very close eye on availability, pricing, and the variety of cannabis that's available on the market. Licensed producers are required to report to us—I think David will help me—on a monthly basis.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cannabis Legalization and Regulation Branch, Department of Health
It is through that collecting of systematic data and a number of other sources that we keep an eye on what is going on.
In terms of the price that's available now from suppliers, the average price is about $9, but licensed producers offer a range of products that can be between $4 and $18 per gram, depending on what the product is and the format in which it is sold.
Conservative
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
Thank you very much to the witnesses for being here today. It's very good testimony.
I want to express the importance of the difference between medicinal and recreational marijuana that you pointed out, because I think everybody around the table wants to ensure the health and safety of Canadians. However, many people using medicinal marijuana are very ill. Before this business, I was a chiropractor, and I saw a lot of people with chronic pain who, after years of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, had chosen to move into marijuana, with many fewer side effects and much better results. There is definitely a really good role here in our health care system.
Again, looking at the health and safety of Canadians.... People brought up home cultivation and quality control inspection. I know Health Canada.... Even with a huge bureaucracy, we've had issues. You mentioned recalls. There has been marijuana made available to patients that had fungicides, pesticides, and carcinogens in it. The worry is that, even with medicinal marijuana, there seems to be a challenge to make sure that it's inspected and that it's safe.
I want to ask you about homegrown and about quality control. How do you manage that? Is there a difference between home-growing for medicinal use and home-growing for recreational use? Do you have comments on that?
Executive Director, Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana
In terms of medicinal use, we definitely have comments. Health Canada has taken steps over the past six months to a year to allow patients who are authorized to home-grow to submit their products to a lab for testing. Of course, there are issues with affordability. Testing at a lab is difficult for patients, and lots of people are producing at home because of affordability, so it's inaccessible in lots of ways, even though we commend them for taking that step because, before, patients had no testing abilities.
In terms of the health and safety risks, I would say that, as we move out of prohibition, a lot of this should fall under bylaws, safety codes, and those kinds of things, to ensure that people have safe wiring and no fire risks, but it definitely can be done safely. People need to have proper education on how to do it.
Conservative
Conservative
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
One of the things we've heard from Colorado.... When we were talking about recreational use, the comment was, “When we did it, it was like flying a plane while building it.” One of the things they advised us to do was not to do the same, to slow down and make sure we get it right. They recommended that we have things in place like public education, baseline data and data collection abilities, and treatment research.
I notice in your recommendations that both of you are recommending more money for research. With 288 days, a lot of the witnesses are wondering if this is an opportunity lost.
I was wondering if you could comment, because you are on the ground. You're helping patients. Do you have access to programs through Health Canada or the government, if you are trying to educate your patients, if it's anything from how to do a proper homegrown, for example, to how to utilize it? Data collection...so that when you're dealing with patients you can actually say that patient A has had vaporized marijuana, versus smoked marijuana, versus edible marijuana. What are the dosages? What kind of effects are out there? You can look at this as a baseline so that the recreational market can utilize that data and make sure that it's even safer...labelling and recommendations moving forward.
Do you guys have access to those types of programs or funds at this time?
Founder, BC Compassion Club Society
At this time for the Compassion Club, no. We have been engaged in civil disobedience for 20 years, so we don't engage in official research with the government in any way. We don't receive any kind of government subsidies. Speaking of subsidies, I want to segue a bit to let you know that employees of the Compassion Club generally earn less than $25,000 a year. We're talking about people who are working for very little to provide these additional health care services.
As for data collection, because we haven't had access to cannabinoid testing, we haven't been able to collect data that will give us correlations between cannabinoid profiles and symptom management. What we are able to do within our own little bubble is to keep immaculate records of what the clients are consuming. Anything that a patient is consuming we know about. All the way back to if they registered with us 18 years ago, we have a profile of every single thing they ever procured from us. If there is any feedback about what worked for them or didn't, we can put it down in their patient profile. We haven't brought all of that data together, but we've created it in a way to create specialized patient service on a one-on-one basis. I would say that we are an organization that is ripe for working with a research organization, because of the huge patient base and the incredible amount of experience we have.
Conservative
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
I think you have valuable experience. There are 288 days left before this moves in, and I think you would agree with Colorado that it would be good if we had these resources and baseline data available as we move forward.
Founder, BC Compassion Club Society
Even more so than data, what is important is the common-sense education around maximizing benefits and minimizing risk, and that's a place where we have a tremendous body of knowledge. There are pretty simple recommendations you can give people on how to avoid adverse effects from ingesting cannabis, and how to make sure they're not driving or operating machinery while impaired. These are things we have been navigating for 20 years.
Liberal
John Oliver Liberal Oakville, ON
In the questioning, Ms. Bogden, we heard from witness after witness. It's been a long journey since we saw you Monday morning, but the importance of public education in getting this going is absolutely paramount, so it's great to hear about the initiatives that are there. You are right. We heard a very good presentation from a group that produced quite an excellent document, which I'm going to take home with me. In the presentation, they had you speaking to youth about marijuana in a very thoughtful way, and I thank you for that.
Bill C-45 is quiet, though, on public education. I think some jurisdictions suggested that they were mandated to use a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of marijuana or cannabis for education. Are you happy with Bill C-45 as it is now? Does the educational component, the public health message, reside elsewhere in the health department? Will it be a continuing ongoing strategy for health or does it need to be in the bill itself?
